by North Royalton – The Elyria Catholic Panthers rolled into North Royalton to take on the Holy Name Green Wave where the final score was 13-3. Defense was well on display and the offenses struggled to get much going all night.
Electing to get the ball in the second half, the Green Wave would put their defense on the field to start the game and they would not disappoint as they forced a quick 3 and out and a punt by the Panthers.
Holy Name would do much of the same though as they would also go 3 and out and punt right back to the Panthers. A 56-yd punt though, flipped the field position and helped the Holy Name defense a little bit.
Another short drive by the Panthers ended in a punt, and with the ball again, Holy Name this time on the Elyria Catholic 46 Yard line to start off, the Green Wave didn’t disappoint. An early chunk play by #1 Jawan Bryant set them up inside the 25. A few plays later, #7 Xavier Rodriguez ran to the right side and looked to be walking in when he lost the handle and luckily the ball went out of bounds at the 1 yard line instead of going out of the endzone. Disaster averted. The Panthers defense stood tall though and forced a 27-yd FG at the end of the first quarter.
Holy Name 3, Elyria Catholic 0 after 1 Quarter.
Another short drive by the Panthers ended in a punt, but backing up the Green Wave. They got a 35-yd run by #7 Rodriguez but would end in a punt shortly after.
The Ensuing Panthers drive was their best of the night so far. A 47-yd pass on 3rd and 25 and a defensive Pass Interference deep in enemy territory set them up inside the redzone. With little luck though, the Panthers would have to attempt a 32-yd FG that went wide left keeping the game at 3-0. The drive spanned 7 minutes.
The rested Panthers defense would stand tall the next Holy Name drive and quickly get the ball back, but a first play snap over the QB’s head stalled the Panthers from getting momentum into the half.
The score remains Holy Name 3, Elyria Catholic 0 at the half.
Holy Name received the second half kickoff and got into a quick fourth and short that they would pick up on the ground and then some for 10+ yards. The drive ultimately halted there though and ended in another punt.
The next drive for both teams were short and sweet ending in punts as well with little offense getting going.
Elyria Catholic would start their 2nd drive of the half with a 30-yard pass to #1 Zavior Castillo and giving some momentum to the Panthers as they continued to drive down the field. Elyria Catholic would finally become the first team to get in the end zone on the night as #7 Darrell Shumpert found a wide open #4 Jayden Ramos for 23 yards up the right sideline and making it a 6-3 ball game (PAT was Blocked)
Holy Name looked to get firing on offense but had a big drop on a third down that they almost had to have, giving the ball back to the Panthers again.
Elyria Catholic and Holy Name both punt on their ensuing drives to continue the field position game. Elyria Catholic found that their run game started to pick up and with the lead, their offensive line took over and #2 Zion Castillo went to work at chewing the clock.
Just to show the confidence in the run game, the Panthers elected to run the ball on 4th and 4 and ended up getting it by the nose of the football. When you thought it was all run though, the Panthers struck with the pass to #1 Z. Castillo from 6 yards out to all but ice the game, bringing the score to 13-3.
Holy Name continued to throw the ball down the field but to no avail, they turned it over on downs in their own territory and Elyria Catholic ran out the clock.
The Panthers gain their second win of the season and a big one at that, on the road with their defense leading the way and looking to build upon it next week. It’s back to the drawing board for the Green Wave as they head into the last week of the regular season next week.
Players of the game:
Elyria Catholic WR Zavior Castillo- 4 Rec for 93 yards, TD
Elyria Catholic RB Zion Castillo- 25 Carries for 96 Yards
Holy Name RB Xavier Rodriguez- 8 Carries for 63 Yards
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